February is the birth-month of some great people (fuck you Lincoln, I'm talking about Andrea and my kid), but for getting out to enjoy nature, it is as bad as it gets. Still, we managed a few short walks. Went for a birding walk on Andrea's birthday, the 12th. Added a few birds and stuff, including this cute little Pied-billed Grebe (#29)
We enjoyed watching this Common Merganser (#30) mosh pit. They were swimming in circles and diving. They must have wrangled up a cyclone of fish. It was fascinating.
On Monday the 20th, I was off for President's Day (still, fuck you, Abe) but Andrea was working from home. It was nice out, sunny and relatively warm. Our friend Tim texted Andrea and said he'd seen a Painted Turtle basking, so we decided to hit the nearby pond on her lunchbreak to see if we'd be as lucky.
It was a bit cooler and the pond water was choppy and we started to think we might not score. Should we have hit the dens instead? I was checking out the edges of a Mallard-infested island in front of us when Andrea said "what is that?"
That, my dear, is our first ever February turtle in Massachusetts. This Red-eared Slider might not have asked to be a resident of this pond, but he's making the best of it. A four month mud-bath seems to have loosened up a scute or two. That shedding looks most uncomfortable!
RESilient.
We also saw a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (#32), a bird that eluded us for the last few years.
That is February. There were a few "big night" scares and we probably could have had a knucklehead Spotted or a Wood Frog or two, but we didn't travel. We tried a local spot but it was dry.
How cool were those February turtles? That was a first for me too. It's neat but a bit scary all at the same time. What's next? A March box turtle? I'll keep you posted. Take care my friends, Tim
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